The present invention relates to an interactive virtual library system. More specifically, this invention relates to an interactive virtual library system for expeditiously providing automatic updates of user-desired information from content providers, at least one of which is a commercial content provider, to users.
Presently, a user of a personal computer (“PC”) can access information from a content provider, such as Lexis®-Nexis® or WestLaw® or U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission world wide web site, by establishing a telecommunication link with the computer of the content provider and performing a search to obtain the information desired by the user. For example, the search may seek all relevant information in the databases accessible to the content provider pertaining to a specific company. Generally, the search results will be displayed on the user's monitor in numerical or chronological order.
While the conventional systems for accessing desired information from content providers are satisfactory, there are disadvantages presented by these systems. First, with existing systems, there is required much navigation (i.e., using an input device, such as a PC “mouse” or a keyboard, to go through various files and display pages) by the user to obtain the desired information from the various relevant databases. For example, with the conventional systems, a user has to establish a separate telecommunication link with each content provider to access that content provider's databases. With commercial content providers, i.e., content providers requiring payment for information access, the user generally has to enter at least authorized user identification and password in order to establish a telecommunication link. Then after establishing the telecommunication link, the user is required to navigate to obtain the desired information. This process becomes more and more cumbersome as the number of content providers accessed by the user increases.
Second, the existing systems do not provide for much, if any, customization of user interfaces. For example, there may be specific informational topics from Lexis®-Nexis® or another content provider for which a first user desires periodic information updates. If the first user is an employee of a company in charge of monitoring the activities of competitors, these topics may include financial news relating to each of the competitors, news relating to all lawsuits filed in the industry, and information pertaining to any patents, copyrights or trademarks obtained by the competitors. A second user, by contrast, may desire information updates from specific legal periodicals and technical journals. Despite the different informational topics desired by the first and second users, however, the user interface provided by a conventional system to both users is the same.
A third disadvantage of the conventional systems is illustrated by the following example. After the user has reviewed the desired information from a content provider, she may want to contact an appropriate person to discuss what she read. For example, if what she read relates to issuance of a patent to a competitor that effects her company's products, then she may want to contact the company's outside patent counsel for advice. With existing systems, there is no way for her to initiate contact with the outside patent counsel within the system. If she wants to use e-mail for this purpose, then she will have to go to the e-mail application and run it.
What is desired, therefore, is an interactive virtual library system that addresses the above-described disadvantages of existing systems.